Senate Confirms Jeff Sessions As Attorney General

The decision came amid major division, a contentious debate and a stream of controversy about racism surrounding the Alabama senator.

The Republican-controlled Senate confirmed Jeff Sessions as attorney general during a floor vote Wednesday after a stream of controversy over the former Alabama senator’s racist past, reports The Washington Post.

The day after an unusually tense conflict on the Senate floor, the chamber voted 52-47 Wednesday evening to clear Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), whose record on civil and voting rights as a federal prosecutor and state attorney general has long been criticized. Sessions won confirmation almost exclusively along party lines. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) was the only Democrat who supported him and no Republicans voted against him. Sessions voted present.

[President Donald] Trump’s victory came after a bruising confirmation process for Sessions and other Cabinet nominees, which Democrats have used to amplify their concerns about the president’s agenda even as they have fallen short of derailing any nominees.

These proxy battles have generated friction in the traditionally cordial upper chamber, as revealed Tuesday evening when Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) rebuked Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), accusing her of breaking a Senate rule against impugning a fellow senator’s character and blocking her from speaking for the remainder of the Sessions debate…While Democrats couldn’t block Sessions’s confirmation, there may have been other upsides to the fireworks: rallying their liberal base by demonstrating a willingness to fight Republicans and publicly scrutinize Trump’s team.

The decision came after Sen. Warren criticized Sessions’ record, which caused a major flare-up in the Senate, reports The New York Times.